NYC Dance Week Virtual Classes
We are excited to announce the free classes we are hosting in the next couple of weeks. Please consider making a donation for our festival, which will provide free virtual classes, happening on June 11-20, 2020.
Below are our upcoming classes. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the class.
Wednesday, June 3, 2020, 6:30-7:30pm EDT
BollyJazz with Pooja Uberoi
Tuesday, June 9, 2020, 6pm EDT
Yoga with Cyndy
Wednesday, June 10, 2020, 12pm EDT
Guided Meditation & Sound Healing with Jacquie Bird
Wednesday, June 10, 2020, 6:30-7:30pm EDT
Dancehall with Yaminah Legohn
Wednesday, June 19, 2020, 2pm EDT
Kathak-Contemporary Class with Anne Dietrich
Wednesday, June 24, 2020, 12pm EDT
NIA Dance Movement with Hiie Saumaa
Details on the instructors and classes:
Bio: Pooja Uberoi is the founder and owner of the Artistic Dance Company IKIGAI USA which operates in the U.S. and India. Pooja is a trained Jazz and Bollywood dancer and teacher. Pooja is also a trained 200-hour Hatha yoga teacher from Bangalore, India and currently teaches at the Indian Embassy in New York. Pooja Uberoi is also the Producer for NYC Dance Week and founder of Funkar – a NYC10 initiative. She has more than 13 years of experience as a dancer and teacher in Jazz schools in India, the Bollywood Film industry in Mumbai, India and New York City. She was a Board member and Head of a National Dance school in India before moving to New York City. Pooja has choreographed for many movies, musical theatre shows and the famous Sesame Street in India.
Class Description: Bollywood Dance is a mix of dance styles performed in Bollywood films, including traditional Indian styles of Bharatanatyam, Kathak, folk styles, and modern Jazz, Hip-Hop or Belly Dance. Jazz gives a dancer form and style while Bollywood allows you to experience and open up the body in a fun way. Equal parts dance and fitness!
Bio: Cyndy has been practicing yoga since 2002 and has traveled extensively throughout the US and abroad including Costa Rica, Thailand and Africa studying different lineages of yoga including Bikram, Anusara, Kripalu, Hatha and Vinyasa Flow. In May 2017, she received her teaching certificate from Blooming Lotus Yoga, a Yoga Alliance registered school, in Bali under the guidance of Lily Goncalves and Ramananda Mayi.
In August 2017, Cyndy started Yoga with Cyndy in order to provide a fun, non-competitive, welcoming environment where everyone can come to practice yoga regardless of their age, size, shape, gender, orientation or bank account.
Cyndy is the host of “Talking Yoga” which airs every Friday at 4pm EST on MindBodyRadio.com.
Class Description: This class is Open Level with options given for all levels whether you are looking for an relaxing practice or more advanced/heat-building practice.
Bio: Jacquie Bird – This Brooklyn, NY gal has lived as a performing artist, writer, singer, teacher, choreographer and Creative since the age of 18. I know of no other way to live or to Be but as a Creative, a teacher, and Healing Guide. My Intuitive and Healing gifts have always been a part of me, sort of lying in wait–waiting for me to begin stepping into my Potential, waiting for me to Claim Myself, my Power and Wisdom, waiting for me to take the mantel, waiting for me quietly like the apps humming in the background while working on a computer, waiting for me to Wake UP.
When that happened, Jacquie Bird, Spiritual Wellness was born.
Class Description: My guided meditation classes are designed to take you on a soothing journey. Come immerse yourself in sound, deep breathing & imagery. it’s like a massage for the mind to give you a break from all the noise & stress. My goal is to help you Ground, Center & Balance, to get quiet. And connect to YOU.
Bio: Yaminah Legohn is an artistic director, producer, choreographer, motivational speaker, professional dancer, host and dance educator with over 1.7 Million views on YouTube.
Ms. Legohn and her work has been featured in Dance Mogul Magazine, Dance Spirit Magazine, YV Magazine and Paper Magazine.
She has worked with artists such as Shakira, Nick Cannon, Sean Paul, N.E.R.D., Lil Wayne, B.o.B., Black Coffee, Tony Toni Toné, and appeared on film/TV/stage/festivals and commercials such as FAME, MTV’s “Non Stop Summer”, Disney’s “Phineas & Ferb,” and “So Random,” “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, “BET’s “F In Fabulous,” BET’s “The Mo’Nique Show,” The Oxygen Channel’s “Hair Battle Spectacular 2,” The Apollo, House Of Yes, AfroPunk, One Africa Music Fest, and World Of Dance.
As CEO and founder of Art of Legohn, LLC, a multimedia arts and entertainment company that specializes in dance, music and visual arts, she was able to create and produce her sold out and sizzling entertaining show, Red Light Special: A Night Of Urban Burlesque® and vibrant cultural event, Dancehall Battle NYC®.
Ms. Legohn is a NAACP Speech Award Winner and holds a BA degree in Speech Communications & Dance with an emphasis in choreography and organization from San Francisco State University.
Class Description: Dancehall is a unique and expressive style created within Jamaican culture. Derived from Reggae music, this style has it’s own culture and dances that have been created by individuals and dance crews from Jamaica and around the world. This specific style became known in the mid to late 80s and has become popular ever since.
In this class students learn the history of Dancehall culture as they learn classic dances (old Skool, mid and new) and a choreographed routine to a hot tune. Through learning these energetic and fun dance, students will become stronger, more knowledgeable and dynamic dancers.
Bio: Anne Dietrich is a graduated Culture and Dance Educationalist as well as a choreographer and dancer from Germany. Next to Classical Ballet, Contemporary Dance, Jazz Dance, Improvisations Technique, she studied Kathak (North Classical Indian Dance) under Guru Smt. Geetanjali Lal, as well Mohiniyattam (South Classical Indian Dance) under Guru Padmashree Bharati Shivaji, Prof. Kalamandalam Leelamma and Pallavi Krishnan in India. In addition to dancing, a passion for dance music and theater has played an important role in her life. Anne took lessons in piano, classical singing, music theory and theater in Germany and Ireland. Anne is the Founder of the Indian art ensemble Atmadhvani, Srijan as well Prateeksha. Together with Jana Schmueck, she is the Artistic Director of the prospect.dancecompany (www.prospect-dancecompany.de) as well as the renowned TanzART – Center for Dance, Movement and Art (www.tanzart-kirschau.de), which spreads interdisciplinary and intercultural art in the countryside.
Class Description: Anne’s teaching reflects the versatility of her background and combines the influences of different dance techniques – from Floor Work, Modern Dance to Release Technique. The special feature of this workshop is the conscious connection with the classical North Indian dance style Kathak. A comprehensive warm-up makes muscles, ligaments and fascia elastic, the body fluid and flexible. Working with these principles makes it easier to better understand the body in motion and to sharpen the senses of space, energy, dynamics and gravity. Subsequently, the various technical focuses of contemporary dance are imparted through various exercises and combinations, as well as the rhythmic footwork, graceful arm movement, elegance and the fast twists of the Kathak dance. At the end of each session a short choreography is learned. Anne has lived and worked in India for many years. Her experience of “living between two worlds” strongly influences her artistic and educational work.
Bio: Hiie Saumaa (PhD Columbia University) is a somatic movement educator and a dance writer/scholar. She writes about movement and health, dance history, and the artistic process. She teaches mindful dance and somatic strength training practices. She loves to inspire people to enjoy the energy, healing, and aliveness that dancing and movement can give us. https://www.hiiesaumaa.com/
Class Description: Nia makes you feel like a dancer! It is an embodied dance technique that puts you in the flow of movement. It combines easy to follow choreography and free dance. We dance from the inside out and pay attention to our sensations as we move. The class includes a variety of movements from dance arts, martial arts, and healing arts and is energizing, calming, joyful, pleasurable, and healing. It helps build stamina and increase range of motion. We dance barefoot to world music. No previous dance experience is necessary.